Looks like Xcel fried my NoCapX site, eh?  Just like my computer the afternoon before the Chisago hearing started…  Anyway, I can’t get anything to upload, so I’ll do it here and link over there.

NoCapX 2020 had filed a Motion to reopen the hearing when the news came out that utilities were seeing an unprecedented drop in demand… it was denied, BUT, there was this opening:

NoCapX may file an offer of proof if it has newly obtained evidence that calls into question the Applicants’ peak demand forecasting. The offer of proof will be included in the record and forwarded to the Commission in the event that it chooses to review it.

So today I got that filed:

Offer of Proof – NoCapX 2020

Affidavit of Overland

Exhibit A-Wall Street Journal – Surprise Drop in Power Use

Exhibit B – Xcel Investor Annual Summary

Exhibit C – Otter Tail Corporation – SEC 10K

Exhibit D – EIA – Electric Power Monthly, Chap 5

Exhibit E – 2008 NERC Reliability Assessment

And now, on to Exceptions to the ALJ Recommendation

Matthew Wald has a good piece in the NYT today, good in that it raises some of the issues, but these issues raised need some more digging, can you dig it?

Check this paragraph from the article:

In fact, energy experts say that simply building a better grid is not enough, because that would make the cheap electricity that comes from burning coal available in more parts of the country. That could squeeze out generators that are more expensive but cleaner, like those running on natural gas. The solution is to put a price on emissions from dirtier fuels and incorporate that into the price of electricity, or find some other way to limit power generation from coal, these experts say.

Not “could,” but WOULD “squeeze out generators that are more expensive but cleaner” and adding externalities to coal generation cost would only stop that, would only be a “solution” if it tacked on HUGE costs, far greater than those anticipated by those advocating either Cap & Trade or Tax.

But those of us in transmission are glad to see the driver for new construction exposed, as it was in the MISO Benefits Study by our good friends at ICF:

RTO operational benefits are largely associated with the improved ability to displace  generation with coal generation, more efficient use of coal generation, and better use of import potential.

Here’s that MISO study, the above quote comes from the conclusions, p. 83, and is also stated in the intro — THIS IS THE REASON FOR TRANSMISSION, THIS IS THE REASON FOR THE MIDWEST MISO MARKET.  Read the study:

ICF’s Independent Assessment of Midwest ISO Operational Benefits

For example, Jose Delgado whining about hwo long it took to get the permit for Arrowhead, what does he expect for a project that was an absurdly obvious ploy for a superhighway for bulk power portrayed as a “local load” need for WUMS?  They put together many options in the WRAO report, and selected one, Arrowhead, “3j,” as the be-all and end-all of transmission.  That was declared the ONE line that would fix Wisconsin.  Then, next thing you know, they still want to do “5” more commonly known as the Chisago project, they want to do “9” in SW Minnesota claiming “it’s for wind” when there’s only 213-302MVA coming off of Buffalo Ridge into the Nobles substation, they do them all because that’s what they want, they can ship bulk power.  It’s been so dishonest…  Utilities have been so dishonest…

And let’s look at the financing of these lines.  CapX 2020 testimony and a powerpoint demonstrate that they don’t have the financing lined up for that $2 billion dollar project.  They were working through Lehman Bros. so what does that say?  The “Cap” of CapX 2020 is “Capital” and they don’t have it.  But because they want it, they’ll make us pay for it.  Is something wrong with this picture?

———————————————–

Hurdles (Not Financial Ones) Await Electric Grid Update

By MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON — Environmentalists dream of a bigger and “smarter” electric grid that could move vast amounts of clean electricity from windswept plains and sunny deserts to distant cities.

Such a grid, they argue, could help utilities match demand with supply on the hottest afternoons, allow customers to decide when to run their appliances and decrease the risk of blackouts, like the one that paralyzed much of the East in 2003.

The Obama administration has vowed to make the grid smarter and tougher, allocating $11 billion in grants and loan guarantees to the task in the economic stimulus package passed by the House last week.

But it will take a lot more than money to transform the grid from a form that served well in the last century, when electricity was produced mostly near the point of consumption, and when the imperative was meeting demand, no matter how high it grew.

Opposition to power lines from landowners and neighbors, local officials or environmental groups, especially in rural areas, makes expansion difficult — even when the money for it is available. And some experts argue that in the absence of a broader national effort to encourage cleaner fuels, even the smartest grid will do little to reduce consumption of fuels that contribute to climate change.

In fact, energy experts say that simply building a better grid is not enough, because that would make the cheap electricity that comes from burning coal available in more parts of the country. That could squeeze out generators that are more expensive but cleaner, like those running on natural gas. The solution is to put a price on emissions from dirtier fuels and incorporate that into the price of electricity, or find some other way to limit power generation from coal, these experts say.

The stimulus bill passed by the House includes $6.5 billion in credit to federal agencies for building power lines, presumably in remote areas where renewable energy sources are best placed, and $2 billion in loan guarantees to companies for power lines and renewable energy projects. The bill also includes $4.4 billion for the installation of smart meters — which, administration officials say, in combination with other investments in a smart grid, would cut energy use by 2 percent to 4 percent — and $100 million to train workers to maintain the grid.

About 527,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines stretch across the United States, most installed many decades ago.

Everyone agrees that more lines are needed. But some industry experts argue that the problem of making the grid greener goes well beyond upgrading and expanding the existing power lines. The grid, they say, was set up primarily to draw energy from nearby plants and to provide a steady flow of electricity to customers. It was not intended to incorporate power from remote sources like solar panels and windmills, whose output fluctuates with weather conditions — variability that demands a far more flexible operation.

The experts say that the grid must therefore be designed to moderate demand at times when there is less wind or sun available — for example, by allowing businesses or residential customers to volunteer to let the local utility turn down air-conditioners in office buildings or houses, when hourly prices rise.

An even more significant problem is that utilities increasingly face opposition to expansion and must fight for years for permits.

José M. Delgado, president and chief executive of the American Transmission Company, which operates in four Midwestern states, said his firm’s last major project, a line of about 220 miles from Duluth, Minn., to Wausau, Wis., took two years to build but eight years before that to win the permits. The federal Interior Department took a year to approve the line crossing a wild river and required a $5 million contribution to a national park, but the one-year delay raised costs by an additional $12 million, for a total of $440 million, Mr. Delgado said.

Loan guarantees will not help this problem, he said. “We have had wonderful access to the private bond market,” he added.

The International Transmission Company, a Michigan company, is trying to build a 26-mile line that, had it been in place, would have prevented the great Eastern blackout of 2003, said Joseph L. Welch, president and chief executive. The State of Michigan has approved it, but a homeowner is challenging it in court, Mr. Welch said.

“We burn up three years on a line that will take two months to build,” he said.

But, he added, “We absolutely have no problem — underscore, no problem — financing our transmission grid.”

Other companies said the same, although a few said the loan guarantees in the House bill would be helpful.

As power lines lengthen, the number of approvals they require increases, the complications of dividing the costs become greater and the difference among national interests and local interests becomes starker, said Dan W. Reicher, a former assistant secretary of energy who was a member of President Obama’s transition team.

Policy makers have looked at various models to resolve the conflicting interests in power-line disputes. In the 1930s, the federal government assumed sole responsibility for approving natural gas pipelines, and as a result, gas moves freely from wells in the Gulf Coast states to other areas of the country, with much of it used to make electricity. Gas pipelines are somewhat less objectionable, though, because they are buried.

Another model is the one used to build the Interstate Highway System, with the states using their powers of eminent domain in a system that was centrally planned with state input. But highways were more attractive to many states than power lines would be, electricity officials say, especially if the lines are simply crossing a state without adding much local benefit. A third possibility is a national commission that would present a master plan for thousands of miles of new transmission lines that Congress could approve for the whole country in spite of local objections for individual pieces.

Congress tried to solve the problem in 2005 with a law that gave the Energy Department authority to intervene if states did not approve new lines deemed to be in the national interest, but that has not worked well, said Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Energy Committee. It was criticized as an assault on the traditional control by the states of land-use decisions.

The electric industry is at least planning to better integrate different parts of the grid so that if power is needed in Baltimore it can be imported from Chicago. A group of technical experts, mostly from the Midwest, have been meeting for months to map out new lines, in an effort that industry veterans say is unprecedented in its breadth. But the group’s aim is simply a map of what such a system would look like; it will not seek permission for such lines, or try to finance them or actually build them. The group is scheduled to make an announcement next week.

“We’ve got a real political confrontation that’s going to take place,” said Glenn L. English Jr., chief executive of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, who had served as a congressman from Oklahoma for 20 years. “It basically comes down to the question of prioritization. What’s more important to you? Do you truly want to maximize the use of renewable energy?”

There’s something about a Citizen Advisory Task Force, and that something is that when people are “forced” to sit down and actually read a utility application for significant utility infrastructure, be it nuclear waste storage, transmission line, coal gasification plant or nuclear waste storage once again, they, and WE in the cosmic sense, all learn something. What is usually learned makes the Dept. of Commerce squirm… too bad, these applications are full of unsupported justifications for their infrastructure, projects that will make them money but that are not in the public interest, and “the Department” just takes what they say and works with it, no independent verification, as they’ve testified to over and over and over again. That’s where a Task Force is helpful — a Task Force has a way of recognizing the inconsistencies, factual errors (remember “Lake Pepin was formed by Lock and Damn #3” from the Goodhue Co. Alternate Site application?). Task Forces have a way of coming up with system and site/rout alternatives to meet the need claimed by a utility in ways that they hadn’t brought forth (didn’t discover or don’t want discovered). Task Forces have a way of finding a better way, or two, or three. Task Forces have a way of taking a disparate and diverse group of public officials and NGO representatives and citizens and jelling them into cohesive, informed and thoughtful questioners and advocates.

Here are a couple of significant Task Force Reports for background:

Report of the Site Advisory Task Force: Goodhue County Dry Cask Storage Alternate Site Project (I’m downloading this, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz, very, very, very slow – in the meantime, CLICK HERE FOR LINK)

Expanding Horizons – Chisago I Task Force Report 1997

Expanding Horizons – Appendices – Chisago I

Here are some recent attempts of Task Forces to struggle to evaluate a big project with insufficient time, to wrap their heads around system and site/route alternatives, and with laudable results:

Chisago II Task Force Recommendations – May 2007

(Authored by Task Force. Note there are no Appendices — Commerce jettisoned them, they were not included with the Report!!!)

Mesaba Energy Project – Citizen Advisory Task Force Report

(Authored by staff, where Comments on each aspect of charged were solicited from Task Force and report compiled — report shows resulting lack of cohesiveness). Note AGAIN there are no Appendices — Commerce jettisoned them, they were not included with the Report!!!)

For the Chisago II Task Force, we had to fight Commerce to get it. Notices/invitations were not sent out to all affected communities, there wasn’t enough time for a governmental unit to appoint a representative, they didn’t have enough members and local communities were not represented so they weren’t legally sufficient to be a “Task Force” so it was a “work group… Not enough time… appendices “disappeared.”

For the Mesaba Task Force, we had to file a petition in this one too, Commerce didn’t want it. Meetings were “facilitated” by Commerce staff and provided with incorrect guidance, i.e., told they could not address cumulative impacts, GRRRRRRRRRR. Report prepared by staff with comments by members… not enough time… appendices “disappeared.”

For this most recent one, the Prairie island uprate and dry cask storage, once again Commerce fought against a Task Force, very few were sent solicitations, there was nearly no time to apply, and only three meetings are planned, cut short already by 1/2 hour because the library closes at 8:30, not 9:00.m. Bill Storm, Commerce Staff, has unilaterally decided the “charge” of the Task Force, and despite Commission emphasis on the importance of vetting the application (which I raised at the PUC meeting) and independent review and analysis, there’s no mention of vetting the application; he’s unilaterally decided that public comment is not allowed (there has been time at end of meeting for public comment in past Task Forces); he stated that the PUC Ordered that he is to “preside” over the meeting (OH, PUH-LEEEZE, the PUC did no such thing) and when challenged insisted that was the case (“HAVE YOU SEEN THE ORDER?” Well, I have seen the PUC Order, and it does not state that Storm is to preside over the meeting); he stated that there will be no report (OH? The PUC specifically stated that the Task Force could do a report if it wanted to, and if it does not, how will its work be entered in the record… oh, it won’t be… right, funny how that works and how convenient where the public’s work and issues raised aren’t even part of the proceeding?) Good way to delegitimize and dismiss our efforts… I realize that’s just what he wants, it’s his job to “remove the impediments” and “streamline,” but speaking as an “impediment,” I’ve got my job too.

And the good news, other than it’s such a lovely day that it’s easy to forget the economy is imploding, on my doorstep just now is the FedEx package with the tape of that PUC meeting, so now there’s a transcript to do.

And that Goodhue County Task Force Report is still downloading, like molasses…

All I wanted was a computer… my trusty Dell that I’d had for years died the afternoon before the start of the Chisago Transmission Project hearing, couldn’t have been worse timing — I swear Xcel arranged that one. Alan ordered a Dell to be shipped to the hearing site the next day, and it wasn’t, and when pressed, they said they couldn’t guarantee that it was even in stock, much less that they’d ship it (so do explain why they’re charging for overnight delivery???). Needless to say that was cancelled, but that took a couple days to accomplish. So he then ran to the store and got a Lenovo 3000N, which I got the next day, Saturday, and started loading it up and everything, and when I got to the scanner, the damn thing crashed. With no time (the hearing resumed on Monday), I frantically restored (yes, the system restore worked very well) and got it going again, and again, at the scanner, it crashed, but just before it did, I got a little screen that the scanner was not compatible with Vista. Oh, great, and so then I started googling, using a reliable desktop that Alan had put together from junked computers, and found that Vista isn’t compatible with all sorts of things. I called Lenovo to see what I could do about Vista and was told I needed to get a compatible scanner — ahem… I DON’T THINK SO!! I told them Vista sucked, and I wanted XP, and they said, no, I couldn’t get XP because they only did that exchange with ones with the upper grade Vista, wonderful… I have XP but of course Microsoft has these rules… So then I restored again and got it going and of course by now the Chisago hearing is long done, and I’m out in Delaware and gave up on my scanners and figured I’d just use that with the desktops here and there, OK, fine, and I was cruising along, and then the keyboard stopped. First one letter, and then a couple and within a few minutes, the keyboard was DEAD, no keyboard whatsoever. And I had a brief to write. Great, thanks… can you spell PISSED. My normally low blood pressure was through the roof. The Lenovo phone guy said that he couldn’t just give me instructions to take it apart and fix it, that it had to be fixed by one of their warranty fixers or mail it in (oh, so that means how long without my brains?). OK, he gives me a case number and refers me to a list of providers. Of the four in Delaware, not one phone number was correct, so I googled the names, and called, only two were still in business and of those two, NONE would do work on one they hadn’t sold. Oh, great, so I have to ship it off.  We ran to the local Office Big Box and got a USB keyboard and I finished up the brief.  Lenovo sent out a mailing box and I sent it in after downloading everything into a separate drive. And since Vista was a problem throughout, I said in big capital letters “NEEDS NEW KEYBOARD, AND INSTALL XP, VISTA SUCKS.” It came back with a new keyboard, and I guess Vista had been reloaded because a lot of things that were there when I’d sent it in were not there when I got it back… sigh… Also missing was the ThinkVantage which has the save and restore functions I needed. Because by that time, I was bent on getting XP into this machine, and the internet descriptions of how to do that said to save everything just in case. Oh well… The new keyboard worked, and it was time to reload AGAIN, but I didn’t want to do that in Vista, I’d had enough, and in utter frustration about Vista, I brought it to my local computer guy and threw up my hands and said, GET RID OF VISTA AND GET XP IN THIS, and so he did, and once again, I was happy, cruising along, getting everything set up and reloaded and all that crap for the umpteenth time, and all was well for a couple weeks until the keyboard went out again. AGAIN!!! I lost it, utterly lost it, we got another USB keyboard (because the other one was in Delaware of course) and called Lenovo and bitched and of course it was the same, mail it in or bring it to a local, and I wasn’t about to go through calling a list of bad phone numbers again, so I dutifully got my new case number and proceeded to rant and rave and stomp around the house, and meanwhile Alan’s feeling terrible because he’d gotten it for me and it was a LeMOnovo, how would he know, it wasn’t his fault, and we’re both getting pisseder and pisseder. Is a lemon computer grounds for divorce??? Are they liable for Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress??? Somehow I think the warranty is insufficient…

So Alan’s looking on the internet for ideas and he finds David Churbuck, Lenovo Grand Pooh-Bah of Marketing, and his cellphone is on his blog. Really, he lists his number and says call if you’ve got a Lenovo problem. 508-360-6147 And it’s an interesting blog! I think he’s on a one-person mission to salvage the reputations of corporate types (ahem… salvaging reputations of corporations just isn’t within the realm of possibilities) and in this case, he did just that. One call and a quick return, an email exchange, and then a few back and forth phone calls with another corporate guy and next thing you know, I have a Lenovo box in my porch on Xmas Eve (not that I’m anything but agnostic, mind you). Call it a belated Happy B-Day! THANK YOU!!!

I’ve loaded everything in, it’s working, haven’t had a glitch… Yes, I’m paranoid, but I think it’s OK. OK enough to say it here. Alan’s a bit more paranoid than I, but I’m ready to say that Lenovo has indeed rectified this “situation.” Time will tell, but I think it’s fixed!!!

From the Northfield News:
City says goodbye to beloved businessman, Bob Jacobsen

See also Locallygrown and northfield.org…

Bob Jacobsen died this week, it’s such sad news. He will be missed. Bob was my “adoptive” father, mentor, and friend, without a doubt the most supportive and influential person shaping my life. Rollie had called and left a message and we connected later — I’m in the midst of the Chisago Transmission Project hearing, already a melancholy proceeding because it was Mike and Nancy Casper who got me fired up about transmission the first time the Chisago line was applied for. We logged more than a few miles in ‘96-98 going up to help them fight that one — and WIN! Mike died not too long ago, after having suffered from Ahlzheimers for several years. This is a photo of Mike and Nancy on Bridge Square the evening of the “grand closing” of Jacobsen’s store where most of Northfield came together and closed out an era:

To get that call about Bob’s death in a break between witnesses in this Chisago hearing was so appropriate — Bob always encouraged me to stand up and fight for what was right. We often disagreed about politics, but as often, came around from different views to complete agreement. He’s the one of his generation who I’ve spent the most time talking with, and learned much about things like WWII, marketing, and determination.

He “adopted” me not long after I met him while looking for a place to live after law school. I’d been living in Kenyon, and regularly looked down Division and thought I’d like to live there. After I got a good sized settlement on a case, I set out to find a home in “the canyon” of Northfield’s main drag, and started calling around, shots in the dark. A realtor referred me to Bob, and we chatted and I went to visit him and twist his arm more than a little. I did, and he didn’t protest too much. He showed me the apartment that was piled high with the former long-gone renter’s leftovers, and knew it was where I wanted to be, it felt like home. So he grinningly and begrudgingly agreed to get it cleaned out some, I agreed to do some painting, and I moved in. He hated cats and did not allow cats, as Maggie Lee will attest, but as he did with Maggie, he let me and my brown tabby “fish” live in the best rental unit in Northfield with the best view, the best landlord, and the best downstairs neighbors. Later, when the other tenant in the front of the building moved out, he let me rent out the other unit and tear out the wall between the living rooms, opening up a 36 foot living room with seven foot windows and fifteen foot ceilings. It was the brightest most delightful place I’ve ever lived (hell in the heat of August). I wanted to condoize it and stay there forever, but hard as I tried, that I could not convince him to do.

Bob was generous in every way. He opened up the town for me, a conservative with liberal introductions and the inside story, gleefully argued politics and traded lobbying tips, freely offered an awful lot of advice and a broad view of history. We spent a lot of time hashing out city politics, county politics, and state legislative races — Northfield’s in one of the most closely divided and hotly contested districts in the state, a good case against current redistricting schemes, which left District 25B in the shape of a jackass! (click here, squint, and you’ll see…)

In what would be our last visit, I brought Alan for introductions and Bob’s stamp of approval, and they quickly got a little rowdy trading stories of fighting garbage incinerators, Bob, about the one they’d planned for Northfield, and Alan about his in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and now St. Paul. I didn’t know NSP had tried to pass off a Red Wing styled burner on Northfield, and didn’t know Bob was passionately against garbage burning and how much he promotes and believes in recycling (there’s always a twist that we don’t know about Bob!) Within minutes, those two were grinning and waving their hands in the air as they shared their victories and struggles. Bob was twinkling — he heartily approved and wished us well, and later put it in writing in a touching note. Well, ahem…he also called Alan my “dream dinghy.”

I’m oh so grateful to have been blessed with Bob Jacobsen. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor — a tireless public watchdog and the most delightful pain in the governmental posterior! He had a full and good life, freely giving and “giving what for” to all who deserved it.

On Monday, it’s back to fighting the Chisago Transmission Project, and I’ll try to give NSP a few jabs in memory of Jake!